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Let's face it: We love games. We love them enough to collect game company CEO's names like baseball cards, pore over quarterly financial reports, and treat each press release as though Moses just brought it down carved in stone. It's fun to talk "inside baseball," so to speak.

But sometimes we clutter up other threads with such talk. We discuss Microsoft's financials in the Wii U thread, or EA's fiscal insolvency in the Sims thread, or what have you. Threads that are better used to talk about, y'know, video games. I admit I am just as guilty as the next person at doing this.

So let's have a friendly place you can go, game business grognard. A place where everybody knows your name. Where they're always glad you came.

…yeah.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

A giant Cthulu alien just threw the top of Big Ben at Abraham Lincoln's airship.

Mostly, they offer something that is just not needed anymore. The average customer doesn't need their expertise, can find the same merchandise in other places, and when the %'s of games bought digitally began to rise, that had to begin a slide in sales at stores. Best Buy and Target can just sell other stuff and move on. Gamestores were screwed, as revenue became more scarce.

GameStop isn't needed. Local game stores are great for figuring out what the gems are if you're not plugged in online. They're the place that's likely to buy / sell games and consoles going all the way back to the 2600. It'll be sad once everything is online, IMO, and GameStop hastened that unnecessarily.

Gamestop is almost always cheaper than my local game store in terms of new game prices, I hardly ever buy used anymore, so I can't really comment, but the "mom and pop" local store was insanely overpriced on used stuff, that honestly I don't know how they are still open. I do have a local chain used games/movies store but their selection is usually mediocre in terms of used, usually just the usual most popular stuff.

There are indications Rage 2 is a Bethesda store/launcher exclusive on PC.

Which I don't mind from the standpoint of having to use another storefront/launcher, I mean I'm resigned to the fragmentation at this point, but it's terrible timing for them to be opening up pre-orders on their exclusive platform right after news broke that they compromised a bunch of people's personal info.

There are indications Rage 2 is a Bethesda store/launcher exclusive on PC.

Which I don't mind from the standpoint of having to use another storefront/launcher, I mean I'm resigned to the fragmentation at this point, but it's terrible timing for them to be opening up pre-orders on their exclusive platform right after news broke that they compromised a bunch of people's personal info.

Particularly on a game that's not going to turn a lot of heads in the first place. Rage 1 seemed like a minor disaster to them, at least in terms of what they thought they were going to sell.

There are indications Rage 2 is a Bethesda store/launcher exclusive on PC.

Which I don't mind from the standpoint of having to use another storefront/launcher, I mean I'm resigned to the fragmentation at this point, but it's terrible timing for them to be opening up pre-orders on their exclusive platform right after news broke that they compromised a bunch of people's personal info.

Particularly on a game that's not going to turn a lot of heads in the first place. Rage 1 seemed like a minor disaster to them, at least in terms of what they thought they were going to sell.

Rage 2 looks MUCH better and has the team that made the (well regarded) Mad Max game involved. I was saying in the trailers thread I wonder if it would be better off with a different title that didn't tie it to Rage at all.

Has Epic said whether you can buy games for their store at third party vendors? Otherwise this feels like quite the step-back.
Also it looks like they have a loong way to go with the store itself. Couldn't even find a wishlist.

It is quite the exclusive list they have though. Like 2-4 of those are nearly guaranteed buys for me some day.

Has Epic said whether you can buy games for their store at third party vendors? Otherwise this feels like quite the step-back.
Also it looks like they have a loong way to go with the store itself. Couldn't even find a wishlist.

It is quite the exclusive list they have though. Like 2-4 of those are nearly guaranteed buys for me some day.

Outlaw is legit one of my Top 5 2019 releases, so this news makes me sad.

I can't fault Double Damage for their decision and sincerely wish them the best of luck on Epic's storefront.

Guess I'll be waiting for the ultimate Steam release as I always seem to be drowning in a backlog either way.

Ironically, I'd have absolutely zero issue paying at +$10 "Steam tax" to see the game day and date on the platform to both support the dev and see the game on my preferred platform, but I understand the notion is complete bananas.

Real curious how the 12% Epic cut vs. 30% Valve cut will play for indies on a new, unproven platform in addition to releasing a year later on the more dominant service where mind-share might have moved on so many months later.

Gamestop has been a big part of the problem with the games industry for a long time.
It has perpetuated hive mind culture, degrading stereotypes and over-hyped and up sold less informed or uninformed consumers for decades.

Has Epic said whether you can buy games for their store at third party vendors? Otherwise this feels like quite the step-back.
Also it looks like they have a loong way to go with the store itself. Couldn't even find a wishlist.

It is quite the exclusive list they have though. Like 2-4 of those are nearly guaranteed buys for me some day.

Same here. I have been following Ashen for a while.

So far the answer is no, but I can't find where I read that now. That's probably tied to the low % cut going to Epic.

It's absolutely one step forward, one step back. Apparently their regional pricing is a mess.

NSMike wrote:

How did I live before digital distribution of old, cheap games?

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

You did live before digital distribution of old, cheap games. Now you just play games.

Huh, Satisfactory even had a Steam Store Page. I had it on my wishlist. They've pulled it for Epic. It's an interesting move but they have an audience that will follow them, the platform doesnt matter much.

Edit: There are a few people in an active thread saying they wont follow the move, but then gamers have a history of saying one thing and doing another.

Gamestop has been a big part of the problem with the games industry for a long time.
It has perpetuated hive mind culture, degrading stereotypes and over-hyped and up sold less informed or uninformed consumers for decades.

I can only speak about GameStop in Ireland, but here they are all about charging significantly more for games than the recommended price. They even sell second hand games for more than the new price in other places.

It really bothers me seeing all the Mams/Dads/Grandparents walking around with their bags...

I don't have as much bad stuff to say about Gamestop (US), but I know what the hell I'm doing when I walk in there.
I remember seeing their push to sell figurines fizzle out, I don't know if that was just local or not. Those things are too damn expensive even without the markup introduced by brick and mortar retail. I still have a few though (wow the price went up on that one! As I looked over my orders from 2017 and realized I never got a book, and now it's too late to do anything about it, apparently)

I still get asked about a rewards card most of the time when I check out, but I talk to them about games and stuff and thus they like me and even without that I've been fortunate enough for them to all have been nice.
One of my two local gamestops closed down maybe a year ago? and that's disappointing cause they were definitely nice and closer. I'm kinda surprised we had two.
I do remember thinking used games could have been cheaper when I was younger.

So if Gamestop went under, then all the things publishers put forward as necessary defenses against used game sales, like season passes and pre-order bonuses and microtransactions and currency boosters, those'll all go away, right? Mission accomplished, yeah?